The Farm Shed Museum, Kadina

The Copper Coast, South Australia



The Farm Shed Museum can be found in Kadina, the largest of the Copper Coast towns. The museum itself is a series of buildings with displays on the local area, different sections focus on copper mining, dryland farming, life in Kadina and surrounding areas. It's run by the National Trust so if you're a member it's free entry.

I have to admit I wasn't all that inspired to visit the Farm Museum since I don't have a huge interest in old farm machinery, which is what I thought would be mainly on display. But I went along and was glad I did as I ended up loving the museum and all its displays, it's all really well done and there's a lot more than just old farm machinery. (There is some for the farm machinery aficionados!)

The museum is spread out over a large area so having a map helps with planning out the visit. I like old historic homes so began with a visit to Matta House. It was the mine manager's house for the Matta Matta mine and the National Trust maintain it.





Copper mining was an important industry in the area, so the museum does have a section on mining. Anyone visiting the Copper Coast will get a thorough history lesson in 19th mining in South Australia.


Looking down into the mine.

There's a large section on farming and I was impressed to see one part that was dedicated to the role of women on the land. From European settlement to modern day farming, I found it all fascinating and interesting to see farming presented from the point of the role of women.



As the museum is housed in large farm sheds, there were large enough spaces for vehicles.


There's a display of carts for old style home delivery, the butcher seen here and the milkman.


Old fire engines, beautifully restored.


Old trucks.


Since it's called 'The Farm Shed Museum' there were displays of farm machinery!

There's a section on the media with an old printing press, it's huge! Complete with all the metal letters that were used to print out the local newspaper.

I really loved the schoolroom, it had been a one room school at a nearby small town. When the school was shut down, the schoolroom was moved to the museum and set up as a school of the 1950s.





It was wonderfully original, complete with large bass drum (seen behind the teacher's desk) that was used to march the children into class after their play breaks. I loved the old maps, there were old school books on the shelf, including the old readers that taught generations of Australians to read! There was a large picture of the young Queen Elizabeth II, a lesson timetable and all the wooden furniture.

As someone who was dragging their feet a little when it came to going to the Farm Shed Museum, I would now highly recommend it! There is so much to see that I'm sure everyone would find something that interests them. It's a terrific way to spend an afternoon.

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